THE APPEARING
In the Lord’s wonderful discourse in Matthew 24 and 25, we have a remarkable description of the state of men at that day from His own lips: “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood cane, and took then all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left” (Matt. 24:37-41).
As in the days of Noah, men will be living for themselves and their own selfish ends, little thinking of the awful judgment that shall suddenly overtake them. They “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away”; none escaped but Noah and his family, who were left in the ark. When the Son of man comes, one shall be taken away in judgment, and another left in mercy, to be brought into millennial blessing, which is exactly opposite to that which will occur when the Lord comes for His people, for at that moment the saints will he taken (caught up) to heaven, and the world left for judgment.
“Take heed to yourselves,” saith the Lord to His people “lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” Luke 21:34-35).
With this terrible hour before Him, rapidly approaching, God, who is not willing that any should perish, “now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world (the habitable earth) in righteousness, by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
“The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.... And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:22-27).
Put how blessed to know that He is swift in mercy, slow to judgment; that judgment is His strange work. (Isa. 28:21). “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,” etc. (2 Peter 3:9-10).
Were it not for His long-suffering, we who believe, and are now the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26), would never have been brought into this wondrous blessing; but haying repented, we are now delivered from the judgment, and are not in darkness that that day should overtake us as a thief, but are all the children of light and the children of the day.(1 Thess. 5:4-5). The Christian can look with joy for the coming of His Lord to receive him to Himself, and for the day when he shall be manifested with Him. “Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” (Col. 3:3-4).
“Beloved,” says the Apostle John, “now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). And every man that hath this hope in Him, purifieth himself even as He is pure.
Paul could anticipate that glorious moment, and say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). He encourages, too, the hearts of the saints at Thessalonica, saying, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you; to the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13).
And again, the Spirit of God brings it before the hearts of His people in a most precious and practical way in the Epistle to Titus (Titus 2:11-14). I will quote the whole passage: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world: looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing” (or the appearing of the glory) “of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
(Continued and to be Continued).